June 21st Feature Winners

Posted by Becca Rattei
7/1/2013 7:12:51 PM

Despite the threat of rain most of the day, fans and drivers flocked to Dacotah Speedway on Friday, June21st. Dacotah Speedway hosted a B-Modified invitational and IMCA and WISSOTA drivers from all over the state came to compete in the unsanctioned, special event. The heat races earlier in the evening saw an uncharacteristically high number of cautions and those cautions carried over in the concy races and the features.

After intermission, two IMCA Modified concies started the night. Only the top five from each concy would transfer to the feature. In concy number one, Wilton's Troy Speten started on the pole. Despite running a limited schedule, Speten was still fast and held onto his lead. Cautions came early and often in concy number one, allowing second place Steven Pfiefer to steal the lead away on the third restart of the race. Speten fell back quickly losing spots to Dave Aberle, Travis Olheiser and Marlyn Seidler. A caution with two laps to go didn't slow Pfiefer down as he held on to win over Seidler and Aberle. Fourth place Travis Olheiser got loose coming out of turn two on the final lap, costing him a transfer position to Tracy Domagala and Troy Speten.

In concy number two, Troy Heupel and Brent Schlafmann started on the front row. Schlafmann faded quickly as Heupel continued to lead through the cautions and the restarts. However, it would be the restart with five to go that would cost Heupel the lead as Mark Dahl would blow by on the restart. Dahl pulled away from the field and led the final five laps to win concy number two. Heupel finished a distant second ahead of Shawn Anderson, Joren Boyce and Tim Perkins.

Veteran Allen Frederick would grab the early lead in the WISSOTA Street Stock feature. Travis Ulmer, who started fourth, quickly shuffled into second and chased down leader Frederick. The two drivers briefly raced door to door before Ulmer powered by on lap seven, just seconds before a caution would regroup the field. Ulmer pulled away on the restart, as it was a four car battle behind him for second between Frederick, Kadrmas, David Falkenstein and Zach Frederick. Falkestein passed Kadrmas for third and battled with Allen Frederick for second while Kadrmas tried to hold off Zach Frederick for fourth. Late race cautions were the last thing Ulmer wanted to see. On the final restart of the night with two laps to go, Allen Frederick and point’s leader Brad Kadrmas made it a three car battle for the win. As they raced to the white flag, Allen Frederick led the field with one to go but the high line was the fast line for Ulmer as he retook the lead out of turn two and held on towin his first feature of the season. Kadrmas made a last lap pass on Allen Frederick to finish second. David Falkenstein and Zach Frederick rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Sport Compacts hit the track next with rookie Nic West in the lead. Points leader Derek Nitschke and Jamie Schlafmann battled hard for second behind him. A caution with five laps to go reset the field and on the restart, West, Nitschke and rookie Chance Seelye raced three wide for the lead. West made slight contact with Seelye, sending Seelye's car rolling over the guard rail on the backstretch. The red flag temporarily stopped the feature. Seelye was thankfully ok but his night was cut short. West, who was charged with the caution had to restart at the back but quickly drove through the field, passing Cody Schulz for fifth and Josh Roehrich for fourth before finishing third. Schlafmann made the winning pass for the lead with two laps to go to win her third feature of the season over points leader Nitschke.

* Jamie Schlafmann, who finished first, was disqualified after the conclusion of the IMCA Sport Compact feature for having illegal snow tires. Points leader Derek Nitschke was credited for the feature win.

Outside pole sitter John Sommerfeld stole the lead away from pole sitter Casey Martin in the INEX Legends feature. Sommerfeld led the feature until the first caution on lap three when he too had his own problems and went to the pits early, handing the lead over to Martin. On the restart however, it was Shane Williams and Drew Papke who blew by Martin and into the lead. Papke challenged Williams for the lead until a caution regrouped the field. Donavin Wiest passed Papke for second on the restart and using the low line, tried to take the lead away from leader Williams. However, William's high line was faster and Wiest could not complete the pass, instead he lost spot to Papke. The final caution of the race cut the feature due to time limit. Shane Williams won his second feature of the year over Papke, Wiest, Martin and Steven Kuntz.

Due to time constraints, the IMCA Mofidied feature was cut from 25 laps to 20. Mike Hanson led early before a strong Robert Hellebust of Minot took the lead on lap two. Brian Swenson was all over second place Hanson's bumper when pointsle ader Jeremy Keller made it a three car battle for second. While Hellebust pulled away, Swenson and Keller both passed Hanson for second and third. As Hellebust started to catch the tail end of thefield, Swenson and Keller battled for second. Keller took the position with nine laps to go and tried to catch leader Hellebust. Shawn Strand, who started seventh, passed Hanson for fourth and caught Swenson for third. A caution with two laps to go set up a Green-White-Checkered shootout. Strand timed the restart perfectly, driving into second and challenging Hellebust for the win. The twodrivers raced hard for the win with one lap to go, allowing third place Keller to catch and pass Strand for second. As they raced out of turn four, Hellebust and Keller crossed the Open Honda Finish line side by side but it was Hellebust who just narrowly edged Keller for the feature win. Strand finished third, Swenson finished fourth and Hanson finished fifth.

Special guests, the B-Modified feature finished the night. Williston's Darin Wendt quickly drove into the lead early in the feature. Wendt lead the first couple of laps before Minot's Jordan Huettl took the lead with 15 laps to go. The final feature was filled with cautions but it didn't slow down Huettle as he was able to pull away on each and every restart. It was a battle for second between Wendt and Shawn Nostdahl. Late race cautions hurt Nostdahl as it allowed Justin Medler to creep into the top five and battle for second with Wendt and Nostdahl. As Jordan Huettl won the feature, Wendt held off Medler for second. Nostdahl finished fourth ahead of fifth place Jimmy Ness.